Dozens missing as immigrant boat capsizes off Sicily

Published: Friday, March 08, 2002

Associated Press

LAMPEDUSA, Sicily (AP)  A wooden boat packed with illegal immigrants capsized in rough seas off this tiny Sicilian island, Italian officials said Friday. Twelve bodies were found and dozens more passengers were missing.

At least 11 people were saved, but rescuers feared that time was running out for the others. As many as 60 people  including immigrants from Nigeria, Sudan and Turkey  were on board when the boat flipped over Thursday evening, said Lampedusa Mayor Salvatore Martello.

Navy boats, planes and helicopters searched the rough waters between North Africa and Lampedusa island late Friday, more than 20 hours after the boat capsized in rough waters.

"We are near the time limit," said Giuseppe Zaccaria, a port official in Palermo, the regional capital of Sicily. "It would be unlikely to find someone alive now, but not impossible."

The 12 bodies found were seven men and five women, Zaccaria said.

The boat went over about 60 miles south of Lampedusa  a flat, desolate island nearer to Africa than to Italy. The vessel was noticed by a local fishing boat, which began towing it to shore.

The captain of the fishing boat, Vito Diodato, said his crew rescued some of the immigrants and alerted the coast guard.

Hundreds of would-be immigrants, mainly from North African, land on Lampedusa each year. With virtually no place to hide on the island, the immigrants are quickly spotted and, if they cannot prove they have proper identification and a job waiting for them, they are expelled.

Many of the thousands who try to slip into Italy by boat each year hope to travel up the Italian peninsula to other European countries, such as Germany.